Poor safety blamed for dock worker injury

A KARRATHA man's arm has been crushed as he worked at the dock supplying Chevron's massive Gorgon LNG project, the MUA says.

AAPDecember 17, 20124:03pm

A KARRATHA man's arm was crushed as he worked at the dock supplying Chevron's massive Gorgon LNG project in Western Australia on Saturday, the Maritime Union of Australia says.

There have been conflicting reports about the severity of the injury of the man.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) claimed the man was being sent by air ambulance to Perth after he was seriously injured when his arm was crushed between the dock and a barge at the Mermaid Marine Supply base in Dampier.

But a Mermaid Marine spokesman said the worker sustained an injury to his wrist and received medical treatment at Nickol Bay Hospital in Karratha.

He is currently resting at home in Karratha, the spokesman said.

``The health and safety of our employees is paramount and all steps will be taken to ensure our employee makes a full and speedy recovery,'' the company said.

``The incident is currently under investigation.''

MUA WA secretary Chris Cain described Chevron and its contractor as "cowboys'', saying poor safety standards had been a problem at the Mermaid Marine Supply base for months.

"It's becoming clearer and clearer that Chevron and their contractors like Mermaid are cutting corners to make up time and money on the Gorgon project,'' Mr Cain said.

The union said WorkSafe WA had been warned that poor training and management made an accident "inevitable''.

Safety representatives had arranged for WorkSafe WA inspectors to visit the site on Friday.

"We've got serious issues when the day after WorkSafe says there's no problem, ambulances are called to an accident of the type exactly predicted by health and safety representatives,'' Mr Cain said.

The union said the accident raised serious questions that need to be answered, such as why WorkSafe was called to investigate the accident hours after it happened.